Discovered by P. Kušnirák MPC designation 24260 Kriváň Minor planet category main-belt · Eunomia Orbits Sun Asteroid family Eunomia family Asteroid group Asteroid belt | Discovery date 13 December 1999 Alternative names 1999 XW127 · 1982 YG1 Discovered 13 December 1999 Discoverer Peter Kušnirák Discovery site Ondřejov Observatory | |
Named after Kriváň
(Slovak mountain) People also search for Sun, 40459 Rektorys, (30398) 2000 KM41 | ||
24260 Kriváň, provisional designation 1999 XW127, is a stony Eunomian asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 8 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by Slovak astronomer Peter Kušnirák at the Czech Ondřejov Observatory on 13 December 1999.
The asteroid is a member of the Eunomia family, a large group of stony S-type asteroids and the most prominent family in the intermediate main-belt. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.3–2.9 AU once every 4 years and 2 months (1,529 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.13 and an inclination of 14° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was taken at the Australian Siding Spring Observatory in 1976, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 23 years prior to its discovery.
In December 2011, a rotational light-curve was obtained for this asteroid from photometric observation by U.S. astronomer James W. Brinsfield at the Via Observatory in Thousand Oaks, California. It gave a well-defined rotation period of 7000331800000000000♠3.318±0.001 hours with a brightness variation of 0.42 in magnitude (U=3).
According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the asteroid measures 8.3 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.28, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo of 0.21 – derived from 15 Eunomia, the family's largest member and namesake – and calculates a diameter of 8.4 kilometers, based on an absolute magnitude of 12.7.
The minor planet was named after the Kriváň mountain (2,494 metres (8,182 ft)), located in the High Tatras of Slovakia. It is considered to be the country's most beautiful peak and one of its national symbols. Naming citation was published on 4 August 2001 (M.P.C. 43194).